Brush Hog Setup

[johnjk]

I've been a bit unhappy with the knock down of my brush hog (Woods RC5) and got to looking at it a few weeks back after my last cut. I've been cutting a bit lower this year and the tail wheel really has the rear up in the air. This week before I started hogging, I took the time to raise up the tail wheel (lower the deck) by one hole. Pretty easy with an impact driver and long handle wrench. The end result is a deck that is more even, still raised a bit in the back, but better cutting of the brush and heavy grass. I had ordered a new set of blades for it thinking the old blades were the culprit, but now I'm thinking it was all with the angle of that rear wheel dangle.

As an added bonus, about 30 minutes in to my newly adjusted setup, the shear bolt sheared. Not surprising with all the small trees I've taken out in the last year. I had gone to TSC and bought a half dozen bolts with nuts just in case when I took delivery last year so after a quick 20 min stop to replace, and relube, I was back in business.

 

[Bulldog]

Slightly raised in the rear is what you want so the cut grass has somewhere to exit.

As far as blades go I prefer to keep mine sharp. I do more pasture cutting than anything and dull blunt blades don't do very well.

RPM also makes a big difference. Your cutter is designed to operate at PTO speed. Even a couple hundred rpm's makes a huge difference on your blade tip speed.